A Nigerian woman Florence Enwerim Onyegbu has been extradited to the United States of America 12 years after she fled the country to avoid serving a 46 months’ jail term for violation of the US law bordering on the offer and payment of illegal remuneration in a health care matter.
According to Sahara Reporters, Onyegbu was extradited to the US on Thursday where she is wanted to answer the criminal charges for which she was convicted and sentenced to prison. She was arrested on February 12, 2011, in the US and subsequently sentenced to three years and 10 months (46) months imprisonment following a guilty plea over the violation of the US law bordering on the offer and payment of illegal remuneration in a health care matter.
Onyegbu was ordered to report for service of her sentence on April 4, 2011, but she failed to surrender on the given date, hence, she was further charged with failure to surrender for service of sentence in violation of US law on March 4, 2013. Onyegbu’s extradition was coordinated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), following a request by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), seeking assistance for her arrest.
The EFCC in a statement confirming her extradition said that its investigations revealed that she had changed her name from Florence E. Onyegbu to Janet Boi in an attempt to remain hidden but operatives of the anti-graft commission on February 21, 2022, swooped on her at her residence in the Ojodu area of Lagos State where she was hiding. The EFCC said that upon her arrest, a national identity card with the name Janet Boi, as well as a Texas driver’s license with the name Florence Enwerim Onyegbu, were found on her.
“The Commission, on March 22, 2023, handed over Onyegbu to the FBI, following an extradition order granted by Justice Z. B. Abubakar of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on December 2, 2022,” the agency said.
